Six Charged For Interfering With Registration Exercise

Six persons have appeared before the Accra Circuit Court charged with two counts of conspiracy and interfering with the ongoing biometric voters registration exercise at Taifa-Dome in Accra.

They are Kingsley Awuni, a farmer; Kofi Ofori, student; Kwabena Boateng, driver; Prince Charles Oduro, alias Soldier, trader; Edward Anato Linkoh, student, and Zakaria Amid, driver.

They were picked up by policemen after the police had received information that the suspects were disrupting registration activities at Taifa-Dome on March 26, 2012.

The accused persons, who are between 24 and 35 years of age, pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and interfering with registration of voters.

They were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢50,000, with two sureties each, and are expected to reappear on April 16, 2012.

They were further directed to report themselves to the police on Mondays.

The facts of the case are that about 11:30 a.m. on March 26, 2012, policemen from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Accra Regional Police Command had information that some macho men, numbering about seven, who were in an ash Toyota Tundra 4x4, with registration number GT 7327 Y, had surfaced at the Taifa-Dome Pentecost Church where biometric registration was underway.

The accused persons were alleged to have disrupted and interfered with the exercise.

Based on that information, the policemen proceeded to the centre at Taifa where the accused persons were spotted dressed in black jackets and interfering with the registration process.

They were subsequently arrested.
During interrogation, they stated that they had been recruited by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency Chairman for Dome Kwabenya to go round all the registration centres in the area to facilitate the registration of NPP members.

According to the accused persons, the Chairman allegedly provided the Toyota Tundra vehicle to facilitate their movement throughout the centres in the constituency.

They admitted having been at the centre but denied having disrupted or interfered with the registration process.

Investigations revealed that the accused persons were not residents of the vicinity. They had allegedly been recruited from the Ashanti Region.

They were subsequently charged after investigations.